In 2011 Rwanda continued rapid realization of Millennium Development Goals in facilitating state building, alleviating poverty, diminishing corruption, and improving health and education. Real GDP growth stood at 7.2%. Rural agricultural production of food and export crops increased, with a 14% rise in coffee export revenues. On August 24 the first-ever comprehensive business census reported that since 2010, 60,202 new businesses had been created; all but 1.2% of them were owned by Rwandan nationals, and of these, women operated 26.3%.

RwandaShant Fabricatorian/APRegrettably, while socioeconomic achievements attracted foreign donors and investors, the woeful political transparency record of the Tutsi-dominated ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) raised increasing criticism at home and abroad. Journalists and political opponents experienced frequent intimidation and oppression, and many opted for exile, where they urged such international groups as Human Rights Watch to apply pressure for reform in governance. Meanwhile, former government supporters, including some senior army officers (notably South African-based Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former armed forces chief of staff), became disillusioned with RPF corruption and nepotism. In January Nyamwasa was sentenced in absentia by a military court to 24 years’ imprisonment on charges of desertion and threatening state security. In May six alleged terrorists were arrested and charged with having plotted to overthrow the Rwandan regime.

Several notable changes occurred in government. In local elections that took place in June, 54.5% of the registered voters were women, and women also made up 41% of candidates for district advisory committees. On May 6 the first cabinet reshuffle since 2009 changed the technocratic lineup. Five months later long-serving Bernard Makuza was replaced as prime minister by Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, formerly a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (2008–11) and minister of education (2011).

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanz., responsible for trying the alleged leaders of the 1994 genocide, returned verdicts against several notorious suspects. Pauline Nyiramasuhuko (former minister for family and women’s affairs) and her son, Arsene Ntahobali (a former militia leader), received life sentences for their roles in the abduction, murder, or rape of hundreds of ethnic Tutsis in the southern region of Butare. Several others received sentences ranging from 25 to 35 years, including former ministers Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza. The ICTR Appeals Chamber reduced the life sentences of former military officers Théoneste Bagosora and Anatole Nsengiyumva to 35 and 15 years, respectively. On the basis of the time he had already served, Nsengiyumva was released immediately. In France an appeals court rejected Rwanda’s international warrant for the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former president Juvénal Habyarimana (assassinated in 1994). She was suspected by some of having been a master planner of the 1994 genocide.

Click anywhere inside the article to add text or insert superscripts, subscripts, and special characters.
You can also highlight a section and use the tools in this bar to modify existing content:

Add links to related Britannica articles!
You can double-click any word or highlight a word or phrase in the text below and then select an article from the search box.
Or, simply highlight a word or phrase in the article, then enter the article name or term you'd like to link to in the search box below, and select from the list of results.

Note: we do not allow links to external resources in editor.
Please click the Web sites link for this article to add citations for
external Web sites.